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Islanders try to avoid losing streak vs. Maple Leafs

Oct 21, 2014 - 3:01 PM (SportsNetwork.com) - The New York Islanders will try to get back in the win column on Tuesday when they welcome the inconsistent Toronto Maple Leafs in a battle at Nassau Coliseum.

The Islanders matched their best start to a season in franchise history with a 4-0 mark, but were dealt their first loss in Saturday's road game against the Pittsburgh Penguins.

New York scored the first goal on Saturday, but still dropped a 3-1 decision to the Penguins. Evgeni Malkin tied the score late in the second period and Patric Hornqvist tallied twice to arrive at the final margin.

Thomas Hickey scored the lone goal for the Islanders and Jaroslav Halak allowed two goals on 37 shots in defeat. New York failed to score on all seven of its power-play chances in the loss, while the Penguins scored twice on four power plays.

"We had opportunities too and we didn't capitalize," Islanders head coach Jack Capuano said. "They did and that's the difference in the game."

Halak expects to start again in net and is 7-2-3 with a 2.79 goals against average in 13 career games against Toronto.

The Isles played Saturday without former Maple Leafs forward Mikhail Grabovski, who has been diagnosed with a concussion. The Russian veteran suffered the head injury Thursday against San Jose and is out indefinitely.

The Maple Leafs have been up-and-down so far this season and hope to end a two-game slide tonight, Toronto lost two straight in regulation to begin 2014-15 and then won two in a row before getting swept in a home-and-home series against Detroit.

Toronto lost 4-1 in Friday's home test against the Red Wings and dropped a 1-0 overtime decision in Saturday's rematch. Henrik Zetterberg scored the game- winning goal with 10 seconds left in overtime to give Detroit the home victory.

Zetterberg, who had four assists in the previous night's meeting, took a crisp cross-ice pass from Niklas Kronwall in the slot and slapped a shot off the right post past Jonathan Bernier to give Detroit its second win over Toronto in as many nights.

Bernier made 31 stops for the Maple Leafs, who lost their fourth straight game against the Red Wings.

"I thought he made some outstanding saves when we made mistakes," Toronto head coach Randy Carlyle said. "(Bernier) stood tall."

Bernier is 1-1-1 with a 3.65 GAA in three career games against the Isles, while backup James Reimer is 4-2-1 with a 3.42 GAA in this matchup.

New York went 2-1-0 against the Leafs last season, winning the final two meetings of 2013-14. The Isles have claimed five of seven in the series overall, but Toronto has three wins in the past four meetings at the Coliseum.

In other news for Toronto, rookie forward Brandon Kozun will be sidelined a minimum of six weeks with a high ankle sprain suffered in Friday's game against Detroit. The 24-year-old has one assist through five games this season.